I ordered this title on Monday evening, it shipped on Tuesday and the mail delivered it today (Friday)! Fantastic!

I just finished listening to the score and it's phenomenal. Head and shoulders above the GNP/Crescendo release in sound quality alone but to get the expanded score as well pushes this release out of the atmosphere. This is an absolutely top rate mastering job on the score.

This is the version of the classic Wrath of Khan score that I always wanted but never had, until today!

Wow! The score is fantastic! And I was surprised at some of the cues I'd forgotten ("Chekov Lies," e.g.). Wonderful product, than you FSM.

I haven't yet read the liner notes (am listening at work), but it does seem like "Kirk Takes Command" is not quite the cue as we hear it in the film, unless my memory is playing tricks on me. Isn't this cue a bit faster in the finished film? Or is it just hearing it stripped of sound effects and dialogue that makes it seem a tad slower and grander? At any rate, I like it, and I will be listening to this version from here on out.

And I'm so glad to have the music for Spock's death scene -- it is really quite touching, and I'm surprised neither it nor the funeral sequence music were in the original release, given that this is, after all, "the one where Spock dies." I trust those decisions will all be explained in the liner notes, which I look forward to reading on the commute home.

Is there a significant difference between the film version and the unused alternate version of the Epilogue / End Title? The first minute of each as provided in samples sound the same except for a minor difference in overall performance.

I couldn't wait to get home today because I just knew that the parcel from Screen Archives would have arrived this afternoon. And I was right. I have received my copy of and am currently listening to the Retrograde Records CD of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and to keep things topical, "There Is No Comparison." It blows the GNP Crescendo disc completely out of the water on all fronts. It sounds like the music has been unbound in some great mythic sense.

The sound mix is so much better with a wide stereo spread as opposed to that horrid "mono with presence" vibe on the GNP disc, and as a results sounds don't seem as 'crushed together' as they do on the other CD. This is an extremely colorful score, so the exhuberance of the music would often compensate for the limitations of the sound on the GNP Crescendo disc, but the best way that I could describe the way the music sounds on the new disc is "thunderous." "Kirk's Explosive Reply" really explodes, and when the "Enterprise Clears Moorings" it sails away. "Khan's Pets" was a cue that I was always lukewarm on from hearing it on the original CD, but the clearer sonics on the new one allow the textural writing to come through, and that whole sequence proves to be an interesting segment of the score in a Jerry Goldsmith horror vein (those scratches in "The Eels of Ceti Alpha V" scared the $#!+ out of me).

I was expecting to glide over parts of the score but found the whole thing much more engaging. Frankly, hearing some of the more familiar pieces in the greater context of the entire score (and sounding so good) reveal how much more complex the score is than one would think from the LP selections (excellent though they were). Furthermore, cues like "Kirk Takes Command," "Captain Terrell's Death" and "Enterprise Attacks Reliant" are central to the score as it plays in the film, and there are many nifty little moments liek the mixing of Alexander Courage's theme with Horner's in "Kirk In Space Shuttle" and the ethereal "Genesis Cave." The Big One of this score, however, is "Spock (Dies)," which is one of those moments that just couldn't have fit onto that original LP, but is a wonderful bit of scoring.

This is a score I know intimately. Not only have I played the original album more times than I'd care to admit, but the film is one of my all-time favorites as well. The score itself was something of a holy grail before the GNP Crescendo CD edition; my friend Tim and I went on several far-reaching expeditions in an attempt to track down the Atlantic LP or cassette back in the high school days (it turned out somebody I knew who had nothing to do with my primary clique happened to have the LP). It would take a lot for me to use the term "revelation" in context of anything remotely connected with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and this CD qualifies.

Is there a significant difference between the film version and the unused alternate version of the Epilogue / End Title? The first minute of each as provided in samples sound the same except for a minor difference in overall performance.

Yes, there's about 2:00 snipped out of the middle. The music that plays when the film pans out and down onto the planet and reveals Spock's casket is missing, since that sequence was a late addition to the film. The alternate moved right from the wistful "epilogue" music into Spock's monologue and the end credits (though there's no talking over the music, unlike the full Epilogue/End Credits).

So, in sum, it's missing the pan to the Genesis Planet, Spock's narration, and there are minor performance differences. Once the credits start, they're identical.

Finally the wait is over. Another score grail given to us...now if they can release the complete score for Star Trek 3 another long over due Horner score to be presented in its entirity. I hope they will press more copies of Journey of Natty Gann as I missed out on getting that added to my collection.

Moviemusic.com still have copies of Natty Gann available.

Not anymore. When you press 'add to cart' it says 'no longer in stock'.